Welcome to The Puppy Papers 2004

Here is where you will find the diary of events leading up to our latest litter and the progress of the resulting puppies.

Start at the bottom as the most recent entries are at the top. Go to the Start.

See more Photos and updates for this litter on their own page.

Puppy Weights

3 Sep 2004

Griffon has joined his new family in Calgary. They sent photos, which I will be posting to his page soon. He is fitting in well and getting along with the 'bunny' and the other assorted creatures, that he shares his new home with.

L'il Herc has also joined his new family in Edmonton. They have renamed him Jasper and he is busy training them to give great belly rubs. From what I hear Jasper will soon be having a play date with his older sister Iza, who lives in Sherwood Park with her family.

Both of our new puppy homes have chosen to keep feeding the pups a Natural BARF or RAW diet. They have also promised to visit and send regular updates on how the pups are doing. I'll add photos to the pups pages when I receive them.

Aurora is settling in well, in our home and is fast friends with our new addition; the 6 month old Ruby Allie. Aurora did not much like her first night without her brothers. She made her feelings well known and we finally put her in a crate with Allie. They both settled down after that and have been crate mates ever since.

This will be my last entry in this diary. I invite you all to keep coming back to our site as I will be adding more information regarding nutrition, imunization, and a FAQ page all within the next few weeks.

21 Aug 2004

The puppies are 10 weeks and one day old today. Li'Hercules will be joining his new family in a week and Griffon has potential new parents coming to visit this week. There are photos of Aurora and our new dog Allie on the "Our Cavaliers" page of the website. There are also photos of each of the pups on their own pages. You can get to their pages from our "Puppies" page and click on the "here" of the message "Click here to see photos of these puppies and updates on their progress."

The pups really love playing outside. Here are some photos of them in action.

This is our first RAW fed litter and they are thriving on a RAW or BARF (Bones and Raw Food) diet. They were fed a reground mixture for the first two to three weeks they were eating solid food. Now they are on the same food as their parents and absolutely love chicken necks. We actually have to separate the dogs when we give them that treat or there is absolute pandemonium as everyone tries to finish theirs first and go for another.

Here are some photos of mealtime ...

13 Aug 2004

The puppies are 9 weeks old today. All the puppies are successfully navigating our patio stairs. Aurora was the first to go up and down the stairs with no coaxing. Then L'il Hercules followed suit. Griffon goes up the stairs just fine, but he really likes it up on the patio and is not very motivated to make the trek down. Griffon also really likes it outside, and while the other dogs and pups make a mad rush to get back into the house when called. Griffon comes in his own sweet time, unless it is raining and then he is the first one at the door. Griffon doesn't care for his baths either, while Aurora and L'il Herc loves their bathtime. It always amazes me how completely different each pup's personality is.

We have been very busy here and the pups are now in the "dog room". They still share an Xpen and will make quite the ruckess if one is in a crate and separated from the others. Now they have their Mom and Dad and our new additon Allie, for company whenever we have to leave the house.

11 July 2004

The puppies are one month old today: They had their first trip outside yesterday. It has been raining and that has delayed their first foray. We spread a carpet on the deck and brought them out in their kennel. At first they were not sure what to think of this big room with no roof. They soon got their bearings and were making the deck their own. The deck is newly renovated with netting and a gate to keep puppies safe. I'll be looking for a used playpen for when we go visit my Mom next weekend. Something portable and easily cleaned.

We took the whelping box out of the X-Pen last week and Allan made a wooden frame to keep the X-pen in a square shape. It is lined with vinyl flooring. We tried heavy gage plastic with last years pups and they shredded it daily, so we decided that we needed something stronger this year. Hopefully this will work to help keep the pups home clean. We also put a kennel cab in the X-pen and the pups have taken to it immediately. They sleep in the kennel cab and when they wake up they all go to a corner of the X-pen to empty their bladders.

We have also started the puppies on solid food. They love to drag a little chicken neck around their crate and will lick the gruel off of your fingers. The gruel is made by re-grinding the Mountain Dog food chicken fruit and veggies mixture. Their primary source of nutrition is still Tara, but she is spending far less time with them now than she did at first. It now takes the pups next to no time to drain her dry.

The pups received their first toys yesterday. They each have a stuffed doggit that squeeks at them and they shared a rubber ice-cream cone. Now the challenge will be to convince Tannus that the doggit's are the puppies' and not his. We did get Tannus a large stuffed Canadian Moose Mountie which he has been proudly dragging about the house. We were hoping that it would distract him from the puppies' new toys, but that hasn't seemed to work so far. The toys will go with each of the two pups that will be going to new homes. That way, they have something that has the scent of Tara, Tannus and their litter mates on it.

Tara seems to be developing an irritated spot on her neck. She has scratched herself raw. I'll be keeping a close eye on it and putting cream on it to help the spot heal and stop the itching that is causing her to sratch.

27 June 2004

Day #16 for the new puppies: We have a new photo. The first trip out of the whelping room since their trip to the vet on their first day. They made it all the way to the kitchen table. Note that their little noses are almost completely black and that their eyes are open now.

They are ... from left to right ... Aurora, Griffon and Li'l Hercules.

26 June 2004

Day #15 for the new puppies: Two weeks and one day old. All the puppies have their eyes & ears open and are walking on all fours. They are still a little wobbly and hillarious to watch. We are starting to see personalities.Li'l Herc and Griffon are pretty laid back except when Momma and food are near. Aurora lets you know when she is not happy. She is quite vocal, although not as Vocal as Iza from our last litter. None of the puppies is showing signs of being the 'leader' yet. Iza was the obvious boss almost as soon as she was born. That personality trait has held true to this day.

23 June 2004

Day #12 for the new puppies: They are all trying to walk today. They are so rolly polly that they roll over whenever they get on all fours; so we have puppies rolling all over the whelping box. Griffon is opening his eyes today, Aurora is starting to and L'il Herc still has his eyes shut tight. Not bad for Griffon who we were sure was just "a little slow." Tara is well on her way to loosing her coat. I am brushing her like crazy trying to keep ahead of the dust balls of Cavalier hair that seem to be multiplying in every room that she trounces through. Ahh such is the life of a Breeder! ;) There will be more photos soon ... I promise!

22 June 2004

Day #11 for the new puppies: I have sent out email responses to the two families that I would like to place Griffon and Hercules with. They have until the end of this week to decide. I would like to place Griffon in a home that will consider showing him. Currently I only have one family who might be willing to do that. We are definately keeping Aurora and now will be actively looking for a Ruby bitch from a good and compatible line to add to our home. That quest may take a year or more before we are successful.

18 June 2004

Day #7 for the new puppies: One week old!!. They are doing great. Today they have been trying to get up on all fours and walk. It is so funny because they usually only co-ordinate two of their four legs at any one time. Up until now they have been "swimming" , which is what they do to get around before they can walk. Since the pups are growing so well, we will start weighing them every couple of days instead of every day.

17 June 2004

Day #6 for the new puppies: All the puppies have officially doubled their birth weight as of today! They are eating well and growing strong.

16 June 2004

Day #5 for the new puppies: I filled out the CKC LitterRegistration form today. I'll also be sending a postcard to Royal Canin indicating that we have a new litter. Since we are Royal Canin Crown Partners they will send a puppy kit for each puppy and their new owners. Although we will be starting these puppies on a RAW diet, it is up to the new owners to make the decision as to what to feed their new puppy. If an owner does not feel comfortable with the RAW diet then I recommend that they provide a Premium Dog Food such as Royal CaninMini (or Small Breed), which is formulated for small dogs.

I also removed the bandages from the puppies paws yesterday. Note to self: do not use Elastoplast bandages next time, as they are far TOO sticky for this purpose. I had to use oil separated from peanut butter to loosen the adhesive in order to remove the bandage without hurting the pups. It was very messy, but Tara did not mind cleaning up the peanut oil.

Tara is doing very well. Her discharge is almost finished. It has been healthy and reddish brown. We had to keep careful eye on her to ensure that no infections developed. We continue to check that the pups use all her nipples, when feeding in order to help prevent mastitis from developing.

15 June 2004

Day #4 for the new puppies: All the puppies have lost their umbilical cords over the last day. The puppies noses are starting to turn black. Cavalier puppies are born with totally pink noses. Adult Cavaliers have black noses. When the puppies noses start turning black they look like someone has drawn little black dots on their noses with a fine tipped black felt pen.

Photo on the left:
Here is a photo of the babies all lined up and showing their pretty backs. From left to right ... Hercules, Aurora, and Griffon. From a CKC Breed Standard point of view Griffon has the nicest markings with his back a nice true black well broken up with patches of white. Aurora has the next nicest markings, with a few larger patches of white on her side and smaller patches across her back. Hercules takes after his Father with more black and very small patches of white. They all have symmetrical markings on their faces and good size blazes. You can see the brown starting to be visible on their back legs, cheeks and ears.

Photo on the right:
Proud Daddy Tanus wanted to be part of the excitement. He would be playing with his babies right now, if Tara would let him. Tannus has proven himself to be a patient and loving Daddy. I have never seen a male dog take on such a strong parental role. Tannus will teach the puppies to play fight, taking turns by letting them win at tug and being on top during wrestling matches. He still plays like this with his pups from their first litter, when they come to visit.

14 June 2004

Day #3 for the new puppies: We finally decided on names for the little darlings. Since both my husband and myself have served in the Canadian Forces as Air Frame Technicians we decided to name them after aircraft we have worked on. The first little boy, who happens to be the largest will be "QuinnCarlin's Li'l Hercules" (We worked on Hercules Aircraft in Edmonton AB), our precious little girl will be "Lady Aurora of QuinnCarlin" (Allan worked on Aurora Aircraft in Greenwood NS) and our littlest boy who has proven himself to be a real fighter is "Sir Griffon of QuinnCarlin" (Allan worked on the Griffon helicopters in Petawawa ON).

13 June 2004

Day #2 for the new puppies: Puppies had their dew claws removed today. Leanna come over to perform the operation. All are doing well and they look so cute with the little bandages like tuxedo cuffs.

12 June 2004

Day #1 for the new puppies: We saw the Vet at 11:30 this morning. The puppies and Mom are all doing well. Tara now weights 19 lbs, which means that she will have some reserves to last her through nursing the little angels. After a slow start, our littlest male is now gaining weight (after dropping 0.1 oz from his birth weight, overnight). We did buy some Nutri-Cal to supplement with if required. Tara is happy to have them back home and in her care. She fussed quite a bit when we packaged them up in the picnic basket for the trip to the Vet. It is raining and I wanted to transport them in something with a lid.

The puppies are all born with their eyes and ears closed. Their little ears look like little leather flaps on the side of their heads and do not really hang down like they will when they are older. They will start to open around day #10. Last year's litter started opening their eyes at day #12.

Here is a photo of the babies and Tara on their first day.

11 June 2004

Day #60 from first tie: Tara panted and nested all through the night. We called the Vet at 8:30 am this morning and she said that Tara may take as long as twelve hours before she moves into the next stage and actually delivers the babies! It was a LOT quicker last year. My sister and Niece spent the night camped in the whelping room with me. Tara finally started delivering puppies just after 2:00 pm. She gave birth to three healthy tricolored babies. Two boys and a girl. So much for everyone's predictions < BG >.

We did have a scare with the smallest boy. He was rooting fine but did not seem to realize that he needed to open his mouth in order to nurse. Allan said that he must be "stuck on stupid". The little guy was quite frantic, mewling loudly and obviously very hungry. By 6:00 pm we had tried everything we could think of. His palate is fine and not cleft. He will open his mouth if you put your finger in it. Leanna, a good friend and breeder of pugs arrived just as he finally figured it out. We were sure we were going to have to tube feed him.

Here is a photo of my sister Sharon holding the smallest boy baby, while Tara inspects her technique and makes sure that Sharon is holding him right.

10 June 2004

Day #59 from first tie: Tara started showing signs of nesting and when I went to give her a bath tonight I found that her mucus plug had dislodged. The blessed even will occur soon!

Here is Allan holding a VERY pregnant Tara ... she is soo ready to give birth and get it over with!

8 June 2004

Day #57 from first tie: No puppies yet but ... my Niece just graduated from her paramedics course and she "donated" her old stethoscope to the cause. We got to hear puppy heart beats today!!!! There are lots of them and they sound like a symphony of little "whooshing" sounds. They are so active, poor Tara can hardly sleep at night. She woke me up six times to scratch her back last night. This is going to be a long week.

4 June 2004

We got the whelping room ready today. We use a small child's purple wading pool with pink & purple pool noodles strapped to it. The noodles act as a pig rail so that the puppies have somewhere to roll if Momma is being a little clumsy. The swimming pool makes it easy to disinfect. Since we have them in a separate bedroom, we can leave the X-pen open, giving Tara free access to the whole room; until the pups start to escape the pool of course.

3 June 2004

Day #52 from first tie: Gave Tara her pre-delivery hair cut today. She doesn'tlike her Brazilian bikini cut, but it makes for a much less messy delivery. We also trim around her nipples on her belly, so that the pups have no problem finding andlatching onto her nipples.

1 June 2004

Day #50 from first tie: We took Tara to the vet for her Well Mommy check. She is a whopping 21 pounds. She usually sits at about fourteen pounds, so this is a lot of weight for her. Our Vet, Lisa Lomsnes, says that Tara is doing wonderful. Lisa palpated Tara's abdomen and said that she could feel "at least four puppies and perhaps five". Last year Lisa felt "at least two puppies and perhaps three", and Tara had four. So there is still hope for my predictions. Lisa also said that she would be surprised if Tara went the full term as she is already so big. She figured we would have puppies within seven days (8th of June).

13 May 2004

Day #31 from first tie: I did muscle testing (kinesiology) today totry and predict how many puppies.
Last year it worked exactly. So here are this years predictions.
Total Puppies: 6
Boys = 3
Girls = 3
Blenheims = 3
Tricolors = 3
Allan predicts that there will be five puppies.

18 April 2004

Day #6 from the first tie: When Tannus and I arrived home from the Dog Show in Edmonton Tara was already waddling around the house with her "I'm soooo pregnant" look. I swear she has put on five pounds over the weekend! Sheis such a drama queen. Dogs often know these things and if she is indeed pregnant she will be due the 11 ^th or 12 ^th of June 2004. Her last first litter was born in the wee hours on 11 ^th of June 2003

14 April 2004

Day #12 of Tara'sheat: Interesting ... theyare not at all interested in cavorting this morning. Perhaps they know that they were successful?!?

13 April 2004

Day #11 of Tara'sheat: These are definitely"morning dogs" Immediately after going outside for their morning constitution Tara and Tannus tied again. Tannus knows what this is all about now; he is behaving like a pro. Tara, the little princess, still complains when she can't get away from him and would drag him about the house if I let her go. This is something that I was warned about, and am being very careful to avoid, as it could hurt our little boy very badly.

12 April 2004

Day #10 of Tara's heat: Tara is definitely in standing heat. Tara and Tannus tied for a full fifteen minutes around eight AM this morning. My knees are still sore as I had to kneel on the floor and hold them together. Tara was none too happy about being caught and not being able to get away from Tannus. Tannus was in a blissful state as he did his duty by her. This time was a full tie. Last year it only lasted for a couple of minutes and we were still blessed with four puppies.

2 April 2004

Day #1 of Tara's heat: Talk about rotten timing ... Tara started her heat the day before the Red Deer & District Dog Show. We had to take her to the exhibition hall wearing her new Bitches Britches, groom her quickly and wipe up after her. All the little boys were most interested in her. Thankfully I got the Bitches Britches finished in time. She seemed to love all the attention in the ring and the judges loved her as she picked up 6 points. She is now standing at 8 and needs only two more points to finish her CKC championship.